Archive for October, 2004

On being asked to apologise for calling a fellow MP a liar. Mr Speaker, I said the honourable member was a liar it is true and I am sorry for it. The honourable member may place the punctuation where he please.

Sea Fever I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by; And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a gray mist on the sea’s face, and a […]

Those to whom nothing has happpened cannot understand the unimportance of events.

Evolutionary Hymn Lead us, Evolution, lead us Up the future’s endless stair; Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us. For stagnation is despair: Groping, guessing, yet progressing, Lead us nobody knows where. Wrong or justice, joy or sorrow, In the present what are they while there’s always jam-tomorrow, While we tread the onward way? […]

The only person who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurement anew every time he saw me, whilst all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.

Do I not destroy my enemy when I make a friend of him

There is something ridiculous and even quite indecent in an individual claiming to be happy. Still more a people or a nation making such a claim. The pursuit of happiness… is without any question the most fatuous which could possibly be undertaken. This lamentable phrase ”the pursuit of happiness” is responsible for a good part […]

It is better either to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.

God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.

Tenuous and Precarious Tenuous and Precarious Were my guardians, Precarious and Tenuous, Two Romans. My father was Hazardous, Hazardous, Dear old man, Three Romans. There was my brother Spurious, Spurious Posthumous, Spurious was Spurious, Was four Romans. My husband was Perfidious, He was Perfidious, Five Romans. Surreptitious, our son, Was Surreptitious, He was six Romans. […]

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

A seven-year-old of my acquaintance claimed that the last number of all was 23,000. “What about 23,000 and one?” she was asked. After a pause: “Well, I was close.”

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing — that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and […]

Originality is unexplored territory. You get there by carrying a canoe. You can’t take a taxi.

Former Chinese premiere Chou En-Lai was once asked what he thought was the legacy of the French Revolution. His response reflected the perspective of five thousand years of Chinese civilization: “It is too soon to say.”

A physician can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines

Euclidian Definitions A point is that which has no parts. A line is that which has length without breadth. The limits of a line are points. A straight line is that which lies equally to the points on it. A surface is that which has only length and breadth. The limits of a surface are […]

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

“Thank you for the flowers you’ve sent”, she said, And sweetly smiled, and coyly turned her head. “I am sorry for the things I said last night. I was wrong, and you were right. Please forgive me?” So I forgave her. And as we wandered through the moonlit hours, I thought, “What bloody flowers?”